Dell customer service: Good or bad??

Having multiple paroblems with my Dell pavilion and not receiving top notch customer service I'm right now walking down the path of considering a Dell M1530 as my next laptop if HP don't replace me with a new laptop in the next 4weeks. Since laptops are prone to failure and such customer service is very critical to me since I use my laptop as an academic tool and for blogging. So I just want some quick opinions and stories regardign the quality of Dell laptops(specifically the M1530/M1330) and how good their customer service is at dealing with warranty claims.

Thanks.

 

Their customer service has been really good to me. As long as you're still in your warranty period, they'll replace whatever's broken or not working.

For example, my battery level was only showing 93% after a week. So I just emailed them and they sent me a NEW battery NEXT DAY delivery without even inquiring anything. I literally received the battery the next morning.

I actually find the quality of their products good. I have a 3-4 year old desktop that works just as if it was new. No problems at all.

 

I havent had to use their customer service for either of my Dell systems, but I can say that I found the build quality on my M1530 to be very good. A sturdy and attractive notebook IMO.

 

Hi,
I had to call Dell XPS Support once for an issue on my 1530.

And, for me the Customer Service was as I expected it to be: thorough and efficient. They took care of my issue fairly quick and even answered any other questions I had at that time.

So, for me it's been good

 

Yeah , both XPS build quality is very very good and their service is as good as Lenovo if not better.

People complaining about Dells because Dell is dealing with more demanding kind of customers than HP, Toshiba or Acer.


Think if they are not demanding , why do they CTO theirs?

 

If asked this question a mere 2 days ago, I would have said TERRIBLE. However, since getting my XPS m1330 yesterday evening and playing around with the new machine, I had to contact tech support 3 times, and each time I had very good support. I am told that the XPS tech support is superior to Inspiron support, but whatever the reason, I am liking it. I recommend the chat support and allowing the tech to remotely access your computer to work with you in solving your issues.

 

Don't know if its just me, but the online chat support is horrible, should I try calling? Online they just tell me to run diagnostics and I tell them thats not the problem, and it just goes in ciricles till I leave out of anger, telling them redudancy isnt going to fix the problem.

-TNK

 

If this was true, I wouldn't have spent a week here in a total rage about my craptastic M1530 and my fervent wishes to see Dell's CSRs burning in the flames of Hell along with their families and pets. Yeah, I got a replacement and some buffs, but it was sheer misery and you don't get an 1800+ post thread about grainy screens when the quality is aces.

 

Thanks for the answers guys. I really appreciate it. I have read about grainy screens, bulding keyboards and such. What's up with that?? Any other major manufactuing defects a potential M1530 buyer me benefit from knowing off???

That's some very strong emotions there. Pretty much how I feel about Hells's Pit at the moment.

 

I would have to say that for the most part the issues with dell have to do with expectations.

If you expect perfection all the time, expect to be dissapointed. If the end result of your support contact is all that matters to you then i would say expect to be pleasantly surprised.

I have gotten a new battery and the hard drive cover for my 1720 from dell via chat and emailing a couple of pictures. Sure it takes a while to get the point across and with my third time contacting them I got disconnected... but in the end all was taken care of. I even did the online chat to ask about the first issue my wife was having with keyboard problems and just asked if I would have to send in the laptop or would they just send out a keyboard. (My wife called and said something was acting up on the keyboard). I didn't even have the computer in front of me and was really just wanting to know if they would send out a KB if necessary. They offere to replace it instantly. I said let me get home and check it out. They said they would schedule a followup call. They called that night and again offered to send out a KB. I said I would re-seat it and we would go from there.

So I would say aside from some minor annoyances like conveying the problem and repetative questions from dell reps I am happy with my default 1yr mail in warranty so far.

 

Dell CSR has been great to me so far.

While I was waiting for my inspiron to ship, I got them to give me $200 worth of refund and coupon money, and it arrived in perfect condition with no flaws in build quality, my only complaint being the bloatware which was easily removed.

And then when my hard drive failed (which could likely be the result of a drunk person having dropped my laptop a considerable distance, though thankfully it was sturdy enough to prevent any other damage), they very promptly shipped me a new one and were glad to let me install it myself and made sure I was well equipped to install the hard drive and restore the OS and drivers (though I haven't been able to get around to it yet because i haven't been home).

 

I had a really good experience today. I received my refurbished Vostro 1500 which I purchased from the DeLL Outlet Store. I inspected the laptop and while testing it I noticed the DVD writer did not sound healthy as in "making a grinding noise", the tray snags on something when you try and open and close it and it has excessive play from side to side.

I also noticed that the laptop had a small smudge mark on the top lid area. I'll get to that later. So I called tech support and I get transfered to the Philippines. I spoke with a very nice and knowledgeable tech.

I explained to him why I needed a DVD replacement. He had me boot in the diagnostics menu. I thought to myself this guy is just BS'ing me and i'm not getting a DVD replacement. He explained to me that he had me perform diagnostics so as to find out if he needed to send me more parts such as memory etc.

He later asked me if there were any missing keys on my keyboard, if the touchpad had any problems as well if there were any cosmetic blemishes they needed to correct with parts.

I explained to him it had one in particular that I was able to clean most of the stain where it was barely noticeable. He was willing to send me a replacement top lid if I wanted to. I declined because that was being to nit picky and I as I mentioned it's barely noticeable now and I didn't want to hassle with tearing it down.

In short 'm very impressed with DeLL customer service and tech support. They were more than helpful, no BS and I felt they went beyond the call of duty.

+5 rep for DeLL

 

How did you convince them to give you refund/coupon money? I could really use that lol, especially since I had so many troubles with getting the system shipped out...

 

I've had good experience. I complained that my sound was stuttering, and a tech came out and replaced the motherboard. :smile:

 

Well my experience with DeLL customer service has gone to outstanding. The replacement optical drive for my refurbed Vostro 1500 was apparently overnighted. And I just received a follow up call from DeLL's customer service to find out if it took care of the problem.

Very nice DeLL.

 

Let me tell you about this, i know the system, XPS computers have a special department, not like dimension, inspiron, latitude or vostros, for computers designed for small and medium bussiness you should get really knowledgable tech support guys, if you are a home user you get support from India or Philipines, they know what they are doing but nothing compared to the Small and medium bussiness department, the main goal for dell is to solve the issue in one call, and in less than 30 minutes, and every tech in dell is focused on Customer Satisfaction, so if your computer is not working at all or something its failing its their job to help you out to solve your issue.

 

I'm on my second replacement M1330 and the customer service rep that my case was assigned to has called and emailed every day to update me on the status.

 

Maybe this is something Michael Dell is responsible for. I remember back in the early 90's, Dell was known for stellar service and after growing so much as a company their service went down while their sales went up.

Now that the company is no longer #1 in sales it's possible Mr. Dell is once again emphasizing service after the sale as he knows you have a much higher percentage in making a repeat sale. If you take care of the customer after you made the sale.

I hope this is the case.

 

Just a follow up to my service related issue. DeLL sent me, actually overnighted via DHL a replacement DVD Writer for my Vostro 1500. It appeared as far as I can tell a brand new part. It actually looked newer than the DVD drive that came out of my Vostro 1500, LOL.

What impressed me the most about the level of service I received was that DeLL customer service called and left messages both on Saturday and Sunday asking if my problem was resolved.

They called again today and I spoke to another CSR and he asked the same thing. I told him I had not picked up the drive but would later today. I just replaced it and all is good.

Nice job DeLL.

 

I don't know what is going on with the glowing reviews of Dell support. I haven't had one good experience with them. It requires several phone calls to find someone who even has a small amount of technical knowledge. When you finally get someone to send you a defective part it does come fairly fast I will admit.

(I have had HW issues not SW). These people are morons that usually read off of scripts but don't really know anything about computers. You will occasionally get someone that actually knows something but that usually requires several calls first. If you are like me and actually work in IT then you will be incredibly frustrated when attempting to get the simplest of things done. The people above must have been extremely lucky!

I went with Dell because they offered a competitive price. However my experience with them has been fairly annoying. I will likely buy ASUS next time for my personal sys and for company purchases stick with HP or almost any other half decent company out there. You get what you pay for.

 

I, too ,went with DELL becuase of the competitive price, and I have had nothing but aggravation in trying to deal with their customer care department - - - and I haven't even received my laptop yet! After being notified on two separate occasions that the shipment of my XPS M1530 had been delayed, I attempted to contact the sales agent who took my order last month. I left several messages on his voice mail over the past two weeks and he failed to return any of them. If this is the type of service DELL provides while trying to gain a new customer, I can only imagine the types of problems I would have if I had to call them after the fact with a service issue. I decided not to bother taking that chance and called in today to cancel my order. I will go with a different firm that has better customer service - - perhaps Apple, even though I have no experiece whatsoever with their operating system.

 

Dell customer service has been utterly phenomenal to me.

My Inspirong E1705 was part of a battery recall in September of 06 and they sent me a new battery next day. Then, I had an issue in January with the battery not charging properly so they sent me a new one next day again. It turned out the AC adapter was to blame so they sent me a new one of those next day.

Then, last May, I dropped my computer causing the lid to separate. I called Dell at 5 PM on a thursday and a tech was at my door at 10 AM Friday morning. He put a whole new lid on and a new LCD screen just for kicks.

Most impressive was this October when I dropped my computer again causing a noticeable crack where the headphone jacks were and causing there to be no audio on the computer. I called Dell and a DHL truck was at my door within 25 (!) minutes. I gave him the computer and it was taken to Dell place in I think Nashville. I sent it out on a Monday, the computer came back with a new sound card and motherboard on Wednesday. It was free of charge and I didn't even have Accidental Damage care!

Recently I had a similar AC Adapter problem and they sent me a new one overnight once again.

Also, I lost my driver and Windows XP installation discs and they sent me new ones overnight as well.

I have called to ask numerous other questions and have almost always found someone who is knowledgeable and able to help me figure it out. The XPS people in particular have been very smart and friendly and I have nothing but good things to say about Dell and especially the whole Accidental Damage deal which from what I understand no other company is as good about.

I tend to drop and break things so buying Dell is basically a must because I know they'll replace it.

Conversely, I have a friend who has a Macbook. When the computer was about 6 months old, he spilled orange juice on it, basically ruining it. He took it to the Apple store and they took it from him. He waited over a month while some part that was missing came in and paid 750 dollars (3/4 the price of a brand new Macbook) for his troubles. I felt bad.

 

I have also had fantastic service from Dell. Every Issue I've had has been addressed by knowledgeable and friendly staff, who have placed follow-up calls and emails after every incident.

The only hardware issue I've had was that the rubber insulation stripped off my Vostro 1400's power supply cable. They overnighted a new one to me without hesitation.

At the same time a warning popped up on my lappie that I'd recharged/flattened the battery SO much (4+ times a day!) that it had reached the end of its useable life! When I called Dell up asking to purchase a replacement battery they overnighted me a new one for free. (Was still within the 1-year warranty period)

So yes, a big, HUGE thumbs up from me!

 

Wow. Since you tend to drop your laptop, did you consider an insurance on it?

Well, I had good experience on Dell's service too. When the 1st day I got my new Dell laptop, I found it to be slow than my old pc and expected something goes wrong with my new Dell laptop and so I've called Dell on this issue in the morning. On the same day in the afternoon, technicians came to have a look on my troubled laptop and confirmed that there's something wrong with my HDD and graphics card. I requested a new replacement laptop and they agreed. 3 days later, I got my new replacement unit and then send my previous faulty laptop back to them without paying any cents as Dell has already paid to DHL.

Besides, I have called Dell several times too to ask questions and they're patient to hear and solve my problems.

Recently, I too had a problem with my AC adapter and got a new one on the next day.

Overall, I'm satisfied with Dell's Customer service.